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Jason Blaine keeping his Country Side hot with latest album and tourBack to video

“Well you know, you’ve got nine guys on a tour bus,” the Canadian country star says. “We do our best to keep it not smelly. But, no, we’re seven shows in and we’re actually having a great time.”

Blaine is currently on a coast-to-coast road-trip with fellow C& W artists Tebey and American James Otto, which has been dubbed the Three’s A Party Tour, and which features all three musicians performing their collective jukebox of hits.

Prior to the tour hitting town for a Thursday night Marquee Beer Market and Stage show, the Herald spoke with the CCMA-winning chart-topper Blaine.

Q: So seven shows in you’ve had the time to assess things and it’s working out well?

A: Yeah, absolutely. The three of us have never toured together before. I’ve known Tebey for a number of years, we met at a music event in Nashville about seven years ago, and we became fast friends and started writing songs together. In fact, on my new album (Country Side) there’s a song called Cover Band, we wrote it together eight months ago.

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We talked for years about doing a tour like this and I joke with him that, I’d say, “Man, I’ve just been waiting for you to have some hits so we can get this going.” Laughs) But he certainly in the last, maybe, three years, blowing up at country radio and becoming more of a name that country fans across Canada know …

And James Otto, I hadn’t met him until this tour, until we got out here, and he’s six-foot-six, he’s a big man, big voice, big heart and fans are going to love him.

Q: Speaking of hits, things seem to continue to go well for you with the new album. Congratulations on all of the success.

A: Thank you very much … My dad showed me my first couple of chords on the guitar, I started playing when I was about nine, started writing songs when I was about aged 16, then playing in clubs. And seeing Garth Brooks in about 1993 was the pivotal moment for me, where I was like, “Man, I would love to get to do that one day.” What I remember is fans singing along to his songs and I always imagined what that might be like, and now to have a song like They Don’t Make ’Em Like That Anymore, which won (CCMA) single of the year in 2012, fans do that. And it’s amazing, them showing up at the shows and singing along. It’s really a dream come true. I don’t take it lightly because I have been around long enough to ride the roller-coaster of ups and downs.

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Q: As you say, it has been a long journey for you and I know you’re appreciative of the people who’ve helped you along the way. Just about every interview I read with you it seems as if you go out of your way to mention the support of your wife in allowing you to pursue your dreams.

A: Absolutely. It was a huge leap of faith for her to leave a very good job in Ontario in 2006. We packed up a three-month-old baby girl to move to Nashville to the unknown. She took a lot of belief in me and we’ve been blessed … I signed a record deal soon after moving to Nashville and we’ve done five albums.

The new album Country Side is my fifth album and country radio across Canada, specifically Calgary, has been amazing to me. The success of the title track really, really blew me away this year. I always felt very strongly about the song, I though we had a good one, but I just found out recently it’s the No. 1 most played Canadian country single this year. And it shows when the fans show up. As soon as we kick off our set with that song, they’re in, and they’re singing along.

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Q: It’s interesting that more and more Canadian country artists are heading down to Nashville and then returning back to Canada to build an audience, and doing quite well at it. What is it about the city that prepares you for that?

A: First I’ll say this: Nobody moves to Nashville to have a career in music without thinking that they have something to offer. Everybody that I know that moved there took some time preparing to move there. For me, it was cutting my teeth playing in country bars in Ontario for about five years and playing cover songs and learning how to write songs. And I thought that I was ready to move there. But you move there and you’re instantly humbled after you go out to a few writers nights. Or you hear just the demos of songs that are in the catalogues of publishers, and you’re like, “Wow, what we hear on the radio doesn’t even scratch the surface of the gems that have been written and recorded yet they remain in the catalogue of some publisher or label.” You just become humbled of how high the bar is and the level of talent that it will make you want to do one of two things: Pack up and head back home, or work harder. For me it was work harder and try and get better. I think that for fans that know my music, there’s an escalation or evolution from the first record to Country Side. I cringe a little bit sometimes looking back, but I think that’s healthy and it shows that every record you’re trying to get better and set the bar and give the fans your best every time.

Jason Blaine performs Thursday at the Marquee Beer Market and Stage as part of the Three’s A Party Tour.

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